Watch the first trailer for Netflix's spooky adaptation of 'The Haunting of Hill House'

1959 novel The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson, about a bunch of people holed-up in a creepy mansion and getting involved in all sorts of possibly supernatural shenanigans is a classic spookfest of a book, and one that has been adapted into two different movies so far.

First was the 1963 movie The Haunting, which received a heap of praise for its restraint - it focused far more on the things you couldn’t see, rather than the things you could. As such, it has managed to create a legacy that sees it regularly included in lists of best horror movies of all time.

Then, in 1999, it was remade because someone reckoned there weren’t enough wooden statue-babies coming alive, so they decided to do it again, only this time they included way more wooden statue-babies coming alive. Which turned out not to be anywhere near as incredible as we all thought it might be.

Evidence:

However, it did have a scene where Owen Wilson gets his head punched off by a big swinging stone lion’s head, so it’s not all bad.

Anyway, it’s 2018 now, and because the concept of an “original idea” is extinct, they’re doing it all again, and because the concept of “Netflix” is all-pervading, that’s where it’s headed. This time around it’s taking the shape of a series and will presumably return to the creepy dread of the original rather than WOODEN STATUE-BABIES AAAAAAHHHHH. So, at the very least, that does make the whole thing sound quite promising.

According to Netflix, the official plot description is thus:

“The Haunting of Hill House is a modern reimagining of Shirley Jackson’s legendary novel of the same name, about five siblings who grew up in the most famous haunted house in America. Now adults, they’re reunited by the suicide of their youngest sister, which forces them to finally confront the ghosts of their own pasts… some which lurk in their minds… and some which may really be lurking in the shadows of the iconic Hill House.”

Sounds spooooooooooky, and if the actually-quite-scary teaser trailer suggests, it might live up to it:

Or what about the newly-released first trailer? Fancy watching that, too? We do spoil you with moving-image-related content, so we do:

The show will be directed by horror-filmmaker Mike Flanagan, who has a wildly varied track-record - Hush was fantastic, Oculus was a hell-train to Dire Town. In front of the camera we’ll have Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Timothy Hutton, Elizabeth Reaser, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, and Victoria Pedretti. You will have heard of some of those names, and others will mean nothing to you - that’s the nature of showbusiness, baby, deal with it.

You’ll be able to catch it when it hits Netflix on October 31, just in time for every skeleton in the whole world’s birthday, Halloween.